City Snapshot

Paris

Business confidence in the digital transformation environment of Paris falls in the upper half of the barometer table, with a score of 6.63 out of 10.

The city ranks 20th out of 45 cities. Executives provide a mixed assessment across the individual barometer categories. Confidence is highest when it comes to people and skills, and lowest in terms of support for innovation and entrepreneurship. In contrast to most other cities in the survey where talent and skills shortages are viewed as the most challenging feature of the digital environment, Paris executives cite internal resistance to change as their chief obstacle to transformation.

Government policies and regulations are cited as another obstacle to firms’ digital progress.

The above helps explain why Paris businesses have a strong need for talent with change management skills. Onefifth of respondents also seek people with skills in advanced data analysis. The biggest need, however, appears to be for specialists in cyber security. Executives are relatively positive about the ability of local universities and other educational institutions to train future employees with these skills, with 50% stating that they are “generally” effective and 8% “very effective” in this regard.

Within the local digital ecosystem, accelerators and incubators are a frequent source of support to Paris companies. Almost three in 10 respondents say these structures have been helpful in providing advice, ideas and other types of assistance to firms’ digital initiatives. The same structures are also an oft-cited source of financial assistance for digital projects, along with private equity and venture capital investors. In contrast to most other cities in the survey, banks and government programmes in the French capital are secondary sources of funding.